Representation matters: Exposure to advertisements featuring models with different skin shades affects body image, well-being and advertising effectiveness among South Asian Women in the UK

Racialised appearance ideals displayed in media and advertising imagery privilege white or light skin. Yet, little research has tested how white or light skin ideals in advertising influence body image. In this online experimental study, South Asian women in the UK (N = 194, M_age = 28.6 years) recruited via Prolific, were randomly assigned to view advertisements that featured either South Asian women with dark skin, South Asian women with light skin, White women, or products only. Dependent variables included appearance and skin shade satisfaction, mood (feeling confident, inspired, anxious, depressed), and advertising effectiveness. Repeated measure ANOVAs and post-hoc analyses showed that viewing White models reduced participants’ skin shade satisfaction and lowered their confidence. Exposure to advertisements with South Asian models with dark skin increased the extent to which women felt inspired, while exposure to advertisements with South Asian models with light skin increased appearance satisfaction. Exposure to either of the South Asian models reduced women’s anxiety. Our results present compelling evidence that representation matters – in terms of body image and wellbeing as well as advertising effectiveness. As little experimental work has been conducted on skin shade representation in advertising on body image outcomes, we outline several important future directions.